Related videos:
The popular social network TikTok stopped working this Saturday in the United States following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the law that requires the parent company, the Chinese ByteDance, to sell its stake in the platform or face a ban in the country.
The application, which has 170 million users in the United States, notified its users about the service interruption with a message stating: "We apologize, TikTok is not available at the moment."
The measure, driven by Congress under national security arguments, stipulates that ByteDance must sell TikTok to a buyer approved by U.S. authorities before this Sunday, January 19.
If this provision is not met, companies like Apple and Google would be required to remove the application from their digital stores, and service providers like Oracle and Amazon Web Services would need to sever ties with the platform. Non-compliance could result in fines of up to $5,000 per user.
Despite the court ruling, the administration of Joe Biden announced that it will not enforce the law, delegating the responsibility to the next president, Donald Trump, who will take office on Monday. Trump, in an interview with NBC, hinted that he might grant TikTok a 90-day extension to find a solution that allows it to continue operating in the country.
On her part, the White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, labeled the suspension of the service as a "publicity stunt" by TikTok, reiterating that the current administration has no intention of imposing sanctions as long as the future of the platform remains unresolved, according to a report by the agency EFE.
Meanwhile, TikTok users have reported the disappearance of the app from Apple's App Store in the U.S., making new downloads impossible. The uncertainty surrounding the future of the social network has left millions of content creators and brands who rely on the platform for their business in a state of suspense.
Filed under: